


You're Always Iron Man

by madasthesea



Series: Nice work, kid [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Post-Iron Man 2, Young Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 01:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15898608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasthesea/pseuds/madasthesea
Summary: After defeating all the Hammer Drones, Tony takes a moment to talk to a little kid in an Iron Man helmet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A loose interpretation of the prompt: "If you’re into it, I’d love to see a de-aged/kid Peter and Tony dealing with him. Maybe kid Peter being fascinated by Tony’s arc reactor.."

 

As much as Tony wanted to just go home after the Hammer Drone fiasco, Pepper was staying to clean up, and it seemed like a pretty bad first act as her boyfriend (type-thing? Is that what they were?) to just leave her to it. So he took the suit off and stuck around, ignoring his aches, cuts, and bruises.

There were still a surprising number of people swarming around the outside of the convention. Police were everywhere, taking statements, treating minor injuries. The red and blue flashing lights were doing little to help Tony’s pounding head.

He was passing a clump of frightened looking convention goers, trying to keep his head down so no one stopped him, when he saw a little kid in an Iron Man mask sitting by himself on a stone bench. A memory from the fight flashed in his head, of a kid in a too big hoodie standing in front of a drone, his hand raised as if to fire the toy gauntlet he wore.

Tony veered over to him.

“Hey, Iron Man,” he greeted as he sat stiffly next to the kid. The plastic covered head turned to look at him. A little ‘whoa’ echoed out from under it.

“That mask looks kind of hard to see out of, bud. Why you still wearing it? Trying to protect your secret identity?” Tony asked, gently knocking his knuckles against it.

The little shoulders shrugged. “I like being Iron Man,” a small voice answered.

“He is pretty cool,” Tony said, grinning. He earned a little laugh for that. “I like being him, too. But sometimes I prefer being Tony.”

The boy hesitated for a moment, then lifted his hands and tugged off the plastic helmet. He was a cute kid, Tony thought as he watched brown curls spill over wide brown eyes, a little button nose scrunching up as he blinked.

“Hey!” Tony cheered. “Now who are you, Iron Man?”

The kid blushed a bit, looking down as he scuffed his sneakers against the pavement. “Peter.”

“Nice to meet you, Peter. I’m Tony,” he said, offering his hand for Peter to shake. Peter looked a little hesitant, glancing up at Tony from under his bangs, but he took the proffered hand and shook it. Tony smiled and got a shy, dimpled grin in return.

“Where are your parents, Peter?”

The smile disappeared.

“Um… my aunt and uncle are talking to the police,” Peter said quietly. Tony swallowed, getting the feeling he’d touched on something sensitive.

“Are they both ok?” He asked gently.

“Yeah,” Peter said, nodding. Then he added in a quieter voice, “I’m in trouble, though.”

“Yeah? Me, too.” Peter’s head jerked up and he stared at Tony with wide eyes.

“ _Really?”_  He seemed shocked that Iron Man could get in trouble.

Tony nodded morosely, shoulders slumping a little bit so he looked downtrodden. “My… Pepper… is mad that I caused so much damage.”

“But you saved everyone!” Peter exclaimed, looking angry on Tony’s behalf, his little face scrunched up. Tony gave him a small smile.

“Only after I put them all in danger by coming.” Peter was shaking his head before Tony even finished his sentence.

“No, that all would have happened anyway. The bad guy wanted to hurt people. You stopped him,” Peter said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

“You think so?” Peter nodded again. “Well, good, I’ll tell Pepper that.”

Peter looked happy that Tony wouldn’t be in trouble anymore. His little fingers were still clutching tight to his Iron Man mask.

“Are in trouble cause you stood up to the drone, Pete?” Peter looked up at him again, his dark eyes flitting over to where a couple were talking to an officer.

“My aunt started crying,” he confessed quietly, staring at the mask in his hands.

Tony hummed. “Sometimes being brave scares the people who love you.”

Peter scrunched up his face again. “I’m only brave when I’m Iron Man,” he whispered. He sounded a little bit like he was going to cry, which was the last thing Tony needed tonight.

“Me, too,” Tony said simply.

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re always Iron Man.” He sounded confused.

Tony grinned, chucked the kid lightly under the chin. “So are you.”

Peter’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

His eyes flicked back over to where his aunt and uncle were. Tony followed his gaze, noticed they were coming back toward them.

“Well, kiddo, that’s my cue to leave,” Tony said, standing up. Peter hopped up, too, looking disappointed.

“It was nice meeting you, Peter.”

“You, too, Mr. Stark,” Peter said.

Tony smiled at him one last time, winking as he did. “See you later, superhero.”

Then he walked off into the chaos of the convention, still smiling.

 


	2. 7 years later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the follow-up, as requested in this prompt: "I LOVE YOUR FICLET ABOUT TONY MEETING LITTLE PETER AFTER IM2 have you considered writing a little follow up to that years later when peter tells tony about it and tony's like "THAT WAS YOU""

 

“You got this, kid.” Tony had both hands on Peter’s shoulders, trying to calm him down. The boy was worrying at his dress-shirt sleeves, biting his lip.

“I do not ‘got this,’ Mr. Stark! I’ve never spoken in public before! And there’s still so many unknowns about the webbing in a medical setting! And what if someone connects it to Spider-Man and then  _me_ to Spider-Man?” Peter hissed frantically.

“Calm down, Pete. We’ve already talked about all of this remember? This is a symposium for works in progress, no one is expecting a finished product. And you have a foolproof internship record, remember? Even if they do look at that and think of Spider-Man, you’ve had an internship with me for the past two years and everyone knows I make Spidey’s tech.”

They had, admittedly, had this conversation about four times before, but Tony was willing to have it a dozen times if it meant Peter got out on that stage and did his presentation.

Peter, for his part, looked like he was going to pass out.

“I can’t do this, Tony,” he whispered. Tony immediately realized how serious he was—he still almost never called Tony by his first name, even after three years of knowing each other.

“Peter, it’s ok. I know it’s scary, but it doesn’t matter, alright? It’s five minutes and then it’s done and no matter how it goes, everything will be fine,” Tony soothed, rubbing Peter’s arms. “Come on, I know you can do this. You’re the bravest kid I know.”

Peter swallowed. “I’m only brave when I’m Spider-Man.”

“You’re always Spider-Man,” Tony said instinctively.

Peter blinked at him, tilting his head to the side. Then he smiled. “I didn’t think you remembered.”

“Remembered?” Tony asked, confused. He remembered hearing that piece of surprisingly sage wisdom from a young boy many years ago, but he’s not sure how Peter would have ever…

“That was you,” he stated numbly. “Of course it was you.”

Peter looked a little shy. “I… I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. I assumed you’d forgotten.”

“No,” Tony assured him quickly. He hadn’t. Not once. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this. Of course, if anyone was going to grow up to be a superhero, it was that little kid with the Iron Man helmet.”

Peter groaned, blushing a bit. “No chance we could forget that part, is there?”

“Absolutely not,” Tony said, grinning as he wrapped Peter in a hug. He pressed his face into Peter’s carefully gelled hair. He’d wondered, a few times in the intervening years, what had ever happened to that brave kid from the Expo. To think that he was here, now, in Tony’s arms, a brilliant hero in his own right was more than Tony could have ever imagined. He’d save the freak-out over Peter almost dying as a child for later.

Applause started out in the auditorium. The person speaking had finished, which meant Peter was next.

Peter pulled away from the hug, eyes wide.

“Oh no,” he muttered, looking at Tony pleadingly.

“You’ll be fine,” Tony promised, smoothing down one errant curl. “And just know that I am so proud of you.”

Peter’s expression relaxed a little bit. “Will you still be proud of me if I throw up on stage?”

“You bet,” Tony assured him, laughing.

The announcer called Peter’s name. Peter groaned again, but squared his shoulders, held his head up high, and walked toward the stage.

“Go get ‘em, superhero,” Tony said under his breath, watching him go with a fond smile on his face.

 


End file.
